I often wonder if we’re very shrewd. Or if I am very shrewd.
By shrewd I don’t mean slick. I mean being discerning, as Jesus said he wants us to be. After 36 years of working as a church planter, pastor, and consultant, I’m not so sure we’re very shrewd. I know I haven’t been at times. The next five weeks are going to be a mea culpa as a way to consider what a shrewd faith looks like.
Shrewd has a shadowy side, so let’s get clear on what I mean. By shrewd, I mean being discerning. I like how Eugene Peterson translates Jesus, when he said “streetwise people are more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of light. I want you to be smart in the same way” (Luke 16:8). In the immediate conversation, Christ is talking about handling money, but it seems to me that Jesus is looking for us to be wise in every walk of life. He wants us to be as wise as those who are savvy, even if their character is unseemly. The point is not to be like them, but to learn something from them in terms of being shrewd. What then does shrewd look like?
After 36 years of working as a church planter, pastor, and consultant, I’m learning that shrewd begins with a very familiar idea. It’s the implications from this idea that make me wonder whether we’re very shrewd. Being shrewd begins with understanding the times, a very familiar idea. The sons of Issachar “understood the times with knowledge of what Israel should do” (I Chr. 12:32). They were streetwise, in tune with the times. But what are the times we live in? Many cultural analysts, including Richard John Neuhaus, Walter Brueggemann, Michael Frost, and James Davison Hunter say the church faces a situation similar to what the Jews encountered in Babylon 2,500 years ago. In “To Change the World” Hunter writes, “Ours is now, emphatically, a post-Christian culture, and the community of Christian believers are now, more than ever – spiritually speaking – exiles in a land of exile.”
These analysts are not referring to fallen humanity’s exile from God or how Christians are exiles on the earth (Heb. 11:13). They instead believe parallels exist between the Babylonian exile and the situation the church faces today. “Though it is quite possible that this portrayal from Jeremiah is not applicable to Christians in all times and all places,” Hunter writes, “I do believe this is a word for our time.” The parallels are there.
After Solomon’s death, Israel and Judah split. Over the next 200 years both nations became idolatrous. Exile was God’s judgment against idolatry (2 Chr. 36:17-20), beginning with the Assyrians sweeping away Israel in 722 and the Babylonians beginning to sweep away Judah in 597. In similar fashion, many see much of modern evangelicalism as idolatrous, mimicking American individualism and consumerism. Tim Keller describes it as “highly individualistic and consumerist.” Babylon was a polytheistic culture with 1,197 temples. The Jews were monotheistic, outsiders. Western culture embraces inclusive faiths. Christianity is an exclusive faith – an outsider in today’s world. I think shrewd Christians see these parallels. They understand the times, but what are the implications? I think there are at least four that shrewd Christians should consider:
• Whether we are often only whittling rotten wood
• Whether we operate in realistic time frames
• Whether we are measuring the most important thing
• Whether we have sufficient cultural capital
I’m not in the habit of writing a series, but every once in a while it might be beneficial. Next week I’ll examine the first implication. Are we often only whittling rotten wood? After we’ve considered these four implications of exile, see whether you are better able to assess whether we’re shrewd in the way Jesus wants his followers to be.
Michael, I enjoy reading your commentaries, shared originally through a common friend Samuel Chiang. We need to raise up an army of men and women of Issachar who truly understand the times and know today what the Church should do. Looking forward to hearing what God places on your heart. In Hs Name, Pat
I have a guess that the timeframes piece will be the most difficult to swallow. It’s easy for me to (cynically) look at church and complain about any number of ignorances, indifferences, or missed opportunities.
It’s a much harder pill to swallow that significant change is probably not going to happen in our lifetimes.
For me, my desire for efficiency and quick “turn times” is probably indicative of my individualism. This might be even more emotionally damaging than individualism expressed by consumerism.
Yet another reason humility is the root of every virtue.
brody
Mike,perhaps Christianity in the West needs to reexamine it’s posture as an “exclusive faith”. The gospel of the kingdom is inclusive for all of creation and its people but the words and works of it’s Savior are exclusive. He is for all people, for all of creation, for all domains of culture, for all time. We are exiles in our own land and now the challenge is how to recast the story as something that gives life, not just a secure death. Thank you for doing a great job with that, Mike.
John
Interesting, Mike. I look forward to the series.
I did a little look up on the I Chron. to see if there was more insight on what it is that the sons of Issachar understood about the times and what that meant in terms of what Israel should do. There’s not much there, as you know. It’s a list of tribes and numbers preceded by this verse,
1Ch 12:23 Now these are the numbers of the divisions equipped for war, who came to David at Hebron, to turn the kingdom of Saul to him, according to the word of the LORD.
The closest phrase I could find similar to “understood the times” is in Esther 1:13 when it refers to the King consulting with his wise men about what to do with his rebellious Queen Vashti.
I know that this doesn’t get at the heart of what you want to write about, but it does help me to see if there is some true meaning in the verse quoted.
Excellent start—can’t wait to read more. I have written about this change that is now upon us from a national historical position in my latest book, Tracking the Storm. If the church, and more specifically Christians, do not wake to the fact that we are in Babylon, the future is going to be much darker (and they are going to be dark enough as it is). If you are interested in the book, you can find it in my store (http://carlcreasman.com/store.php). Or, you can get the ebook here (http://www.lulu.com/product/ebook/tracking-the-storm-uncovering-the-pattern-to-great-crisis/18710127).
Can’t wait to read the next parts of your words, Mike.
Best of all, I am posting excerpts from each chapter at the blog, so you can read parts of the first few chapters for free.